Compassion, Humanity & Technology

compassion & technology

As technology continues to whittle away at the frequency of face-to-face interaction, are we slowly losing touch with compassion? Sometimes it’s easier to be rude (or downright mean) when communicating via technology. Technological devices afford a certain degree of separation between people, making it easy to forget there is a person on the other end of our communiqués. Perhaps the more prevalent our technological interactions become, the more humans are losing a bit of our humanity (the ability to sympathize, feel compassion, or consider people outside him or herself). Let me give you some examples.

  1. Your daily commute. Do you vocalize about the incompetence or recklessness of other drivers? Possibly you’ve railed against them, called them names, insulted their intelligence, or wished them ill.
  2. The drive-through line. Have you ever expressed frustration at the service personnel when your order was misunderstood, or failed to keep your patience when asked to repeat yourself?
  3. Cyber bullying. Anywhere from 15 – 50 percent of students experience cyber bullying of some kind. You may have even seen or experienced it yourself; it’s not limited to students and children. Unfortunately, there are several cases that led to the suicides of young people being cyber-bullied.

What do these examples have in common? They are devoid of face-to-face interaction. Whether separated by a car, a speaker box, or a computer screen, people commonly disrespect each other when we are detached from the human aspect.

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